Guess who got a new scooter from Father Christmas!

Thomas had a lovely boxing day playing with Auntie Dawn and Uncle Dan, followed by more present unwrapping with Nanny & Grandad later in the afternoon. Mummy also found Thomas'solitary brussel sprout under the table, so looks like he lobbed it when we were not looking (probably the only thing we've found he won't eat!)

Yesterday, we decided it was time to get out, let Thomas burn off some energy and test drive the new scooter... Our destination - Priory Park, Reigate (which was completely rammed with lots of parents pushing children on new bikes or scooters)

Lots more pictures added to our Christmas set, so click here if you want to enjoy them! ...

Merry Christmas!!

...MADE IT! Thomas *loved* every second, didn't get completely out of control with excitement and played very nicely...also had a good chance to play around with the new camera a bit (a *very* welcome Christmas gift, but more on that later)... ;)

Absolutely loads of pictures from the day here...or a slideshow if you prefer... ;)

La la la is dum dum to hmmm... ;)

La la la is dum dum to hmmm... ;)
Originally uploaded by finkangel.

Yep, I think *someone* is going to be rather excited when he walks (all sleepy) through the living room door!

Merry Christmas Everyone! :)

x

Happy Birthday Fink!

Hope you have a wonderful day.. Thomas has helped to wrap your presents and is now wanting to open them... He's practiced singing 'Happy Birthday' and is ready to eat the birthday cake for breakfast! Tonight, I asked if he would like a curry with Daddy, Nanny, Grandad and Auntie Lucy and Uncle James... he replied 'How about a banana naan?'

Love you lots and here is to a better year ahead..

xxx

A PERSONAL MESSAGE FROM THOMAS...

lkj=[k[lploiuyewq -KSAPOK#,WER#U\JPO;opa#jmB >

Thomas in Shepherd Outfit

My beautiful Shepherd in 2010...

And one year on, the costume still fits and he is happy to wear it! :O)

Thanks Auntie Alan and Uncle Ruth

Ok, so Thomas is a little confused with your names, but you know who you are!

After a frantic hunt and a very long wait, Thomas was given his birthday present.. everyone was excited as it was a really 'cool, thoughtful gift' and .... he cried and it had to be put back in the box! ... Yes, I know, how ungrateful but kids are kids and can be silly sometimes!

So, we left it a few weeks and this morning Thomas woke up to find it on the play mat... such a treat! Daddy spent a few minutes demonstrating it and he hasn't stopped playing with it since! No joke, he loves it and I would highly recommend it to anyone out there! He's always had a fascination with rubbish trucks as we watch them every Friday and he announced this morning that he wanted to be a rubbish truck driver!

Thank you so much... he loves it and we've loved the peace and quiet whilst he's played!

Thomas the Donkey!

Thomas is going to be a donkey in the preschool play and we've just convinced him to try on his costume... How cute does he look? and plenty of growing room for him!! He was crawling up and down the living room, saying 'eeyore eeyore' ... Love him to bits!

Freezing COLD!

Oh boy, totally freezing today, had to scrape the ice off the car first thing (the de-icer spray had managed to get lost somewhere too, which didn't help), didn't take my gloves off all the way in (most unusual) and peering out the office window it looks like all the buildings are on fire thanks to all the moisture clouds billowing from the air conditioning units on the rooftops...

In other news, between now and January the 4th I now don't have to work any more than 3 days in any one week! Woo hoo!! :)

Free Innocent Apple Juice

Wow, lucky I got in a bit early to the Wharf this morning! Spotted from the DLR (across the water) a feeding frenzy of commuters spewing from the Jubilee line and devouring huge pallets of free goods directly opposite...turns out (when I ran down there) that it was hundreds of free bottles of (family size) Innocent fresh pressed juice drinks...my bag is going to be pretty heavy to carry on the way home now!

Our morning went something like this...

6.30 am... Mummy gets up, rather sleepily and gives Thomas his new lamp in an attempt to get 5 more minutes in bed!

6.35... Thomas wanders into our bedroom to show it to Daddy for the first time.

6.40 ... Daddy to Thomas ... 'Whats that, your new Christmas lamp?'

6.41 ... 'No Daddy, it's my fiber optic lamp!'

6.41 ... Mummy can't stop laughing, out smarted by a 2 year old and it's not even 7am! Love it! ;o)

Canary Wharf Ice Rink

Here we go, they've got the ice rink back up and running ready for Christmas, doesn't look like anyone's actually using it yet, but it won't be long! ;)

Children in Need

I absolutely love Children in Need and am so grateful to have a happy, healthy little boy... Thomas coloured in a picture of 'Ponsey' as he calls him this morning and we've been playing the pairs game on the laptop this week too... Please everyone, show your support and donate a little to this fantastic cause... every penny really does count...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/games/

World Record Breaking 3D Art

Wow, had no idea all this was going on at West India Quay yesterday or I would have popped over to have a look, guess I know where I'm going at 1pm...!

Lots more information about all the things I missed over here...

Olympic Site seen from One Canada Square

...and on a related note to my last post (the weather being rather nice again today) a quick shot of the Olympic site, showing (to the right of the stadium, if you click it to zoom in) the "ArcelorMittal Orbit sculpture" (at 114.5 metres being the tallest sculpture in the United Kingdom) now complete! Just got one more thing to go and catch up on now...see how the crossrail is coming along! ;)

Day 1 Maternity Leave

Ok .. so day 1 of maternity leave is here... a little earlier than anticipated but it just sort of happened that way. Thomas and I are going to spend some lovely time together before the baby arrives although it is very quiet in our house at the moment and he keeps asking when his friends are going to arrive and play.

Right, duty calls... we are going to build Canary Wharf out of bricks and a train set! ;o)

The Shard seen from One Canada Square

Wow, check it out, that is the early morning winter sun striking the Shard building by London Bridge station (as seen from the office) - it's the big bright thing near the middle, zoom in if you like by clicking it - sorry it's only a mobile phone shot, but you should get an idea of quite what a landmark this building is going to be when it's finished...and they still have about the top fifth of the building left to glaze! It looks like something the ancient Egyptians would have dreamed up! ;)

Happy Halloween everyone!

Happy Halloween everyone... I've just got back from Nanjans house where Pops didn't even recognise me when I knocked on the front door (I did have my mask on and I was a day early!)... Mummy and I had practised 'trick or treat please' and when Pops realised who I was, he let me in and I was very lucky to get some cake, pear and a satsuma... nothing made it into my my bucket as I ate them all... nom nom nom!

I'm a banana mummy!

With bonfire night approaching, I thought I would try to squeeze Thomas into last years snow suit ... its at this point I realised quite how much Thomas has grown in a year. The arms now stop at the elbow and legs just below the knees.. Still, Daddy needed to go to the station and Thomas wouldn't take off the suit, so he waddled out to the car and as I strapped him into the car seat, he told me it was tight (yes Thomas, I know - that's the exact reason I asked you to take it off again!). We got home about 10 minutes later, having waved at trains from the comfort of the car as it was absolutely tipping down. Needless to say, when I suggested taking off the suit he was very obliging. As I undid the two zips, our conversation went something like...

(T) 'Thomas like a banana'

(Me) No, darling, you're not a banana... would you like a banana to eat? (he doesn't really like them, so I was a little confused)

(T) 'No Mummy, Thomas is a banana, Mummy pealing off the skin from Thomas'

(Me) catching on and starting to laugh.. 'Oh yes, you are a bit like a banana with mummy peeling off the snowsuit'

What a clever boy hey? Got to love his imagination!

25 weeks pregnant!

Life is so busy that I very rarely get time to think about being pregnant, so am always thankful on a Tuesday when the app on my galaxy pops up and tells me that I'm now into the next week and gives me a short update as to what's going on with the baby!

Today, it tells me...

There are 104 days until your due date on January 30, 2012.
You are 176 days pregnant.
You are 5.8 months pregnant.
You are in your 6th month of pregnancy.
Your 1st trimester: April 25, 2011 to July 24, 2011. (0 - 12 weeks)
Your 2nd trimester: July 25, 2011 to November 06, 2011. (13 - 27 weeks)
Your 3rd trimester: November 07, 2011 to January 30, 2012. (28 - 40 weeks)

As Thomas arrived at 35 weeks, I'm wanting to be super organised and have so far

• painted the nursery, put in the nursing chair and built the changing station
• got everything down from the loft, started going through it and have already put 2 loads through the washing machine and a car seat sitting waiting to go into the car
• ordered the crib mattress (which arrived today!)
• have a new Phil & Teds pushchair sitting in mums caravan that I'm itching to use but am being patient
• bought all the bits for my hospital bag - just need to pack it! (Hopefully not when i'm in labour this time!)
• bought 3 brand new babygrows and 3 little hats, for when the baby is first born

There is very little we need to buy this time which is a little frustrating as I simply love shopping for baby bits, but we literally have so much stuff and with so many happy memories of Thomas being so small, it'll be nice for the new baby to play with the toys and wear the clothes.

We've still got to finish the nursery; put a blind up, pictures on walls...however I love taking a little time out from my busy day to think about holding our little baby and imaging their little smile and wonderful cuddles. Our next biggest task is to decide on names.. so far, we don't have any!

Rufus comes to stay for the week

Meet our new pet Rufus... Thomas has been asked by preschool to look after him for the week. We've taken him on a few adventures already, Thomas loves him and is thriving on the responsibility of looking after him!

Campervan!

This is super cool... love it and think it would make a great addition to my collection! Shame about the price tag though! I can just imagine camping in it on a uk campsite!

http://www.firebox.com/product/3644/VW-Camper-Van-Tent?video_id=3403&itc=298&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=VWTENT_384&src_t=nwt&src_id=384&via=nlmain#videos_h]VW

What's the word of the day Thomas?

"Condensation Mummy!"... yes, that's right - My clever 2 year old likes to say condensation! It all started when Daddy was drinking some cold sparkling water in a tall glass, Thomas started drawing with his fingers on the side of the glass and was told what it was and then the following morning, he just pointed and said 'Draw condensation Daddy'!

Yesterday's favourite word was (amazingly) - Nocturnal - "Mummy bats nocturnal" he continued to chatter as I put him to bed!

Also, apparently he pointed to "The Stig" in my mums bathroom and was insistent he was peering at an "Oh look - astronaut" and since getting a Buzz Lightyear toy (from a second hand sale), he keeps on saying 'Infinity and beyond"!!!

I really am very proud, I think he likes the sound of long words as they trip off his tongue and the ultimate smile he gets from a very impressed Mummy!

Now, where did my little baby go that could only say 'agoo' and 'dad dad dad' all the time?!?

Doh!

Two year olds are great fun, they have you in stitches and make you laugh most of the time, but also push the boundaries whenever possible testing your patience to see what they can get away with... Yesterday Thomas threw a metal car at the glass window... Yes, I was impressed it was a decent overarm throw.. however inside the house? me thinks not! So, he sits in the corner for 2 mins as punishment (we had given lots of warnings). After the 2 mins is up, I ask him 'What do you say to mummy?' his reply 'Doh!' hmm.. how I managed to remain composed and didn't laugh in his face I don't know... I just wonder what he was thinking in his little head 'doh, I got caught?' ... after a little thought, he went on to say 'Sorry Mummy, love you good boy!' and gave me a cuddle and thankfully peace is restored again!

Whats in my tummy Thomas?

A Baby! Love you Baby... Mwah...

What's in your Tummy Thomas? My Dinner!

He is going to be such a good big brother.. love him to bits!

What do you fancy for breakfast...

...young man? Was the question I posed to him the other day...the answer, with a shout and an enthusiastic jump into the air?

"ROAST BEEF DINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!"

;)

Our beautiful baby scans...

Here we go then, just a few pics from the recent scans, first up our baby at 6 weeks and 4 days measuring 6.6mm in length and we see a tiny heart beating (and that's about it)-

At 9 weeks and 1 day, our baby has grown to 21.6mm...still very tiny, but having almost tripled it's length in just 3 weeks.

Then at 12 weeks...we finally see the familiar shape of a baby on the brand new flat screen TVs in the scan room ...With a wonderful sonographer taking lots of time to describe everything and confirm the baby is all OK. At this stage, the baby is 58mm (Crown to rump) and my dates are moved a little forward (meaning we are due a January baby)!

Then here we are today...officially half way through the pregnancy and Fink can again have a insight into the pregnancy and witness some of the kicking that is happening all the time. This little one is very, very active making it hard for the sonographer to get all the measurements. She has to wobble my tummy lots, poke, prod and get the little one to roll over to get everything she needed. Technology has improved so much so Thomas was scanned, we got to see the eye sockets, lenses, face, lips, chambers of the heart, arteries, liver, kidneys...just amazing!

A hand and a leg (responsible for all the kicking)...


An arm....

...and the big question...did we find out the gender? No...we've been through so much and really don't mind as long as it's a healthy baby (and a nice surprise)...However, I couldn't help asking the sonographer if we did want to know would she be able to tell us...her response..."Oh yes, I know what you are having" but even then we didn't cave in and ask. Now, I'm analysing every part of our conversation and trying to see if she gave us any clues...but we'll have to wait till January to find out for sure!

At the end of the scan, we came out so very happy at how amazing this whole experience is... we are going to be a mummy and a daddy again and it's so incredible to be responsible for this little life. We celebrated by going to "Next" and buying our first piece of baby clothing...just so they have something new to wear when they are born! A very, very exciting, happy day!

The Wheels on the Bus - Our version!

So, Mummy was very bored of singing the same song over and over and over again... So, we made up our own version of the Wheels on the bus... feel free to add your own suggestions as my imagination is letting me down!

When Pops is on the bus he plays on his IPAD

When Nanjan is on the bus she reads her book

When Emily is on the bus she looks out the window

When Ollie is on the bus he jumps up and down

When Daddy's on the bus he plays on his PSP

When Grandads on the bus he reads his paper

When Thomas is on the bus he (and this often changes, depending on his mood, but he prefers to bump up and down)

(Mummy is often sick on a bus, so we don't sing that as it's not very nice!)

Then we get to the end and he says... more Pops on the bus please mummy.... and so it begins all over again....

What a lovely bank holiday weekend!

I think we got a bit carried away with Thomas starting preschool in a weeks time and went to Crawley to buy him a new bag, drinks bottle, joggers that will be comfy and easy to wash and then discovered his feet have grown so new shoes were also added to the list...he was so excited to be shopping...especially as he has a Lightening McQueen rucksack that is almost as big as he is from his all time favourite movie - "Cars"!

Fink and I pondered whether to buy the T-Shirt or Sweatshirt that goes with the Preschool and I've started to explain to him that Mummy will be leaving him with his teacher (Nicole) and then going home and he replies 'Thomas play with trains and cars, then mummy come collect me'. Having only left him with close friends or family thus far, it's going to be really hard walking out and leaving him there (especially as he will probably cry), but its all good for his independence and I consider myself very lucky changing career and being able to watch every step of his development since birth.

Late Saturday afternoon, a very tired, overexcited little boy fell over a toy train and hit his head on a dining room chair. Catching the bit just above the eyebrow, it bleed quite heavily so a trip to A&E was called for (thankfully we live so close and can walk there!). Here our wounded soldier, given some butterfly plasters and a Lion shaped sticker for bravery and was then discharged.

Sunday and Monday have been a lot more relaxed...we've almost cleared the spare room and the next phase will be stripping wallpaper ready for the new little one...exciting times!

Thomas is going to be a big brother!

So, the best present you can give your little boy...... a brother or maybe even a sister... Yes, our household of three will become four at the end of Jan 2012 (Lets all hope this one isn't 5 weeks early too!). We are all very excited and Thomas can't wait to be a big brother... already cuddling/kissing my tummy and saying 'Love you baby'... he is simply going to be the best big brother in the world and we are thrilled to be having another baby!

Today (24/8), I heard our babies heartbeat for the first time... Words cannot describe the overwhelming emotion you hear when the midwife puts the doppler onto your tummy and you wait the few seconds whilst she locates the heartbeat... then before you know it you hear an incredibly fast "whosh whosh whosh whosh whosh" .. my eyes fill with tears, relief and happiness... then close as I imagine our little baby inside my tummy growing ready for the outside world!

We've had a stressful 17 weeks as my pregnancy has been so different to Thomas. Without going into detail, I've had the most terrible sickness and have only just managed to overcome this in the last week. Never ever before have I felt so helpless and poorly, unable to curl back under the duvet as Thomas needs me to be strong and life needs to remain as normal as possible for him. Today, everything seemed to fall into place... we heard the baby, the midwife confirmed everything is absolutely perfect and I'm beginning to get the pregnancy glow! *quick lets get out and enjoy it and hope its lasts!*

Watch this space as we'll be posting pictures, updates and lots more posts from me, Flyingpops over the next few weeks as I document the pregnancy! For now, I'm just sitting enjoying some of the blog posts Fink wrote when I was pregnant before with Thomas (named MJ then!)

Be careful what you say!

Two weeks ago, I put Thomas into his hooded jumper, pulled up the hood and said 'Now you look like a hoodie thug!' He found it really funny and couldn't stop laughing... Then in the rain this morning, I got out his coat, did you the zip and he was pulling at his hood... then turned to me, smiled and said 'Thomas hoodie thug!'

So, just a nice gentle reminder that we all need to be very careful what we say around him in the future!

Thomas goes into a 'Big Boy Bed'

Now I'm two, Mummy and Daddy have decided its time for me to move into a big boy bed! I'm very excited when they tell me I'm getting a "Thomas the tank engine" one but then have to wait all week for it! On Saturday Mummy goes into my bedroom, makes a great big mess pulling out all my toys, gets Daddy to move furniture around and then it looks so much bigger and I eagerly await the new bed, due on Sunday....

5.30am Sunday morning, I wake up very early as I'm excited and I'm very lucky as Mummy buys me a new duvet and pillow when we go shopping...

When I get home, we have to take them out of the wrapping very quickly and then test them out for size in the covers Uncle Keith got me for Christmas...I then practice going to sleep in the living room....

Then I leave Mummy and Daddy with lots of poles, screws and they make a mess whilst I go to play with my friend Lovely Louise for a bit!

When I come back, my room has been transformed and there is a new bed waiting for me!

You can see how Happy I am as I put my head down, then roll around in the new duvet...

I cuddle my teddy, then discover that it really is a Thomas the Tank engine bed, with a special holder for my cup!

I'm far too excited to go down for a lunchtime nap and spend all afternoon playing in my bedroom, cooking up a storm in my toy kitchen and making Mummy pretend coffee... After a delicious roast dinner, relaxing bath, episode of In the Night Garden and short story, Mummy takes me to bed. At first, I get up lots and try to turn on the lights (but Daddy took out the lightbulb!) and after 15 minutes, I'm happily snoring and dreaming of my new bed...

Mummy and Daddy wonder how tonight will go and what time I'll wake them up in the morning.. we'll have to wait and see!

Flyingpops'Links

OK, so its Friday links time and I've only had time to find one.. but I found it very funny!

Enjoy!

http://storify.com/rhodri/your-awful-dates-in-140-characters

Thomas has Two parties to celebrate being 2 years old!

So, with Thomas being 2 and us having lots of family and friends, we decided to have 2 parties on the same day... 3-5 for toddler friends... 6-8 for family and friends...

We had prepared lots of lovely toddler friendly food including Bagel snakes, egg toad stalls, cheesy feet and a few tasty treats that make it a party (including party rings and cheese balls!)

Thomas got his wish to eat cake (and not being used to cake, the sugar rush that followed afterwards!)

All the toddlers made hats with Lovely Louise, ate lots of food, smeared even more into the carpets and played happily in the garden in the Play house, sandpit and on the ride on toys... Thomas loved celebrating with his mates, couldn't quite take in that everyone was here together and when we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to him, he smiled as we all sang his name, then said 'No'. There were absolutely no tears/tantrums until it was hometime when the over excited little ones, just didn't want to leave! (and we fall onto the sofa for 10 mins happy that it was such a success!)

But, no rest for the hosts as a few of us tidied up, hoovered the crumbs, and got ready for party number 2.... where an excited Thomas was insistent on wearing his new PJ's from Brenda! We didn't take many pictures at this party, but celebrated with close friends and family who all enjoyed Chilli, Jacket potatoes and Birthday cake...

Thomas was literally asleep on his feet as we put him to bed at 9.30... and he collapsed into bed after a fantastic day knowing full well what a birthday entails ... he had happy dreams until gone 9 the following day and Fink and I were wide awake at 7 and actually went in to check him a few times as he has NEVER slept till 9! (and Sunday morning was present time as there were even more to unwrap!)

Thanks everyone for all your help, presents and making it such a special day ;o)

Thomas 2nd Birthday by Flyingpops

I absolutely love reading back through Fink's blog and often treat it as a diary, reminding me of birthdays, holidays and am very guilty of saying, "We must blog about that when we get home" (but never get around to doing so)! However, life has been fairly busy over the last month, and Fink hasn't had a chance to blog, so as a dutiful wife and having only ever posted a handful of times, I thought I would try and help record a few recent events...

So, rewind your Hermione Granger time travelling clock and meet me back on the 6th August...Thomas' 2nd Birthday!

Initially, Thomas didn't really understand what a birthday was...he was a little confused as his friend Hugh was 2 a week earlier and we had celebrated with cake and presents in the park. When asked if it was going to be his birthday, he always said 'Huga Mooga birthday' and 'cake', yet as the event approached and my excitement built he could definitely sense something was happening...At one point, he really thought inanimate objects like a cement mixer, tractor and recycling trucks had a birthday too (sweet!)...

So, I set about filling the house with homemade posters, banners, blew up balloons and wrapped all the presents. I'm really not sure who was more excited, but when Thomas went to bed on Friday evening, he definitely knew there would be a birthday, presents, cake and a party the following day!

When we all woke up on Saturday morning, there was a large stash of pressies waiting for our special boy...

As soon as he woke, I lept out of bed and we all raced downstairs excitedly... singing Happy Birthday and doing lots of cheering!

Thomas quickly learnt to open the big ones first, was taught to shake, smell touch and then tearing open paper (something I love to do myself!)

And loved trying out his new helmet and arm, elbow and knee pads for the scooter!

Then, with presents open it was time for Thomas to enjoy a special treat breakfast of Cheerios, watched Cars on DVD, then completely exhausted from the excitement, fell into bed at about 11 o'clock giving us plenty of time to start chopping, grating, chilling and preparing for 12 toddlers all due at 3pm..

"The Lady" is coming!

Gosh, this is a hard one, both to get the head around *and* decide how to deal with...the situation is thus - with the development of imaginative and abstract thought, an (utterly immaterial) "enemy" has arrived in our lives - Thomas is (slightly) obsessed at the moment with theoretical situations whereby "The Lady" can deny him things, hide things or scold him - nope - not anyone we know, not even a real person, but after some time considering the situation (after being assured by Thomas that, if we weren't diligent, "The Lady" was about to take our TV away) I think I have worked out where she came from (and perhaps how we can banish her)...

Picture Thomas (for example) in the Supermarket, bouncing around watching the trolley piling up with yummy food, even being able to hold bits (to yells of) "Hewp Daddy holdin' PEEZE!!", but when he goes to take a hearty bite of (e.g.) jalapeño pepper, is told "No Thomas, we have to pay the lady first! Don't eat it!"...or when yanking litre-sized glass bottles of olive oil from the shelf (that we don't need) being told "Thomas, *don't* drop that, the lady will be upset!", or getting on a bus "Come back here Thomas, the lady won't let you on the bus without getting a ticket!"...it seems fair to say that this horrible old lady has a lot to answer for, frankly, when it comes to toddler rights and merits some discussion about quite where the line is to be drawn...

So, if even only to narrow down *which* particular "lady" we are supposed to be worrying about, it's time to start referring to people as their occupation, rather than just their gender, in the supermarket we will have to pay the "shop keeper", on the bus we will pay the "bus driver" (and so on)...and hopefully (as we subdivide the barrier) that will be the end (or at least dilution) of that!

Whatever will be next? ;)

A very strange dream...

...last night, dreamed that we (Flyingpops, Thomas and I) were on our way to Oslo (destination obviously the result of predictable influence from the recent terror atrocity) to go and visit a museum/zoo (bit far to travel, but okay) but when we got there I remembered that I was responsible for setting up and overseeing a modern day-twist on a Shakespearean play before we could do our visit (of course I would be! Thanks unconscious mind!), so I set about recruiting Norwegian actors, allocating roles, rehearsing and then finally to the actual performance, which went...perfectly okay...getting a nice round of applause, and then we went to this museum/zoo and Thomas kept on tearing off around the place and climbing up things or running down steep slopes too fast, only to fall off or tumble over...but each time he was...perfectly fine...

So we had the *perfect* setup for (at the very least) a decent anxiety dream, but what happened in the end was a worry-about-it-if-you-like-but-everything-works-out-okay-in-the-end dream...

Never known anything quite like it! *shrug*

Finks Links #144

Friday!! That means it's link time once again! So, please check out -

A nice video about 3D printing...

Life on a lost shipping container...

A swimming pool on the 57th floor (hotel in Singapore)...

Connecting to the Internet using a 1964 300 baud modem...

Methanol Fire = SCARY...!

The Internet of Things infographic (from Cisco)...

Canopus (French nuke test)...

The ghost shuttle...

Inside a Google server module...

A "Super Earth" spotted only 40 light years away...

...and finally - Just what I've always wanted!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! ;)

Android Spam Notifier bar - How to Remove Zoosk

Ah well, that was nice while it lasted...you know, having my device all to myself, the only apps running being the ones *I* want to run...about a week ago a strange little star started appearing in my notifier bar prompting me to "Find local singles in my area" from a company called "Zoosk" (this was after I updated a few apps), so I knew *something* had installed some push advertising onto my 'droid without my permission. The only problem? I kind of like all my apps...

Thankfully there was a fairly simple, two step solution to the problem (follow me in this direction if you have a similar issue) -

1) Go into the "Market" app, hit the "Menu" button, choose "Settings" then scroll down and uncheck the box next to "Receive interest-based ads", then hit back until you get back to the home screen...
2) Next, go into "Settings", choose "About phone", choose "Phone identity" then go here on your PC browser - http://www.airpush.com/imei/ - carefully type in your EMEI number (from the phone screen) and then hit "Submit"...

...and that, for the time being at least, should be the end of the spam messages and (for bonus points) let you carry on with your existing apps without interruption or removal...if, by some horrible development those steps don't work, then make sure to only update/install one app at a time, keeping an eye open for spam and then leave very negative comments in the marketplace for the evil culprit... >:(

Oh, and for the record, the evil app in question on my phone was "Blogger-droid" (which I still think is very useful and good, *despite* this little hiccup)...

BBC UK 3G Survey App

Thought I would give the BBC's new Android App a little try, basically it's does two things -

1) Gives you access to graphs and (Google) maps showing where your signal has been either 3G (full internets), 2G (crap or zero internets) and no signal at all
2) Upload this information to a company called Epitiro who are going to put it into a highly detailed map (with everyone else's results) and make it available to all on the BBC website (most mobile provider's coverage maps are extremely vague, so this will be just about the biggest independent survey of UK network coverage ever conducted, assuming enough people join in, of course)...

It's *only* available on Android at the moment, and I strongly suspect it won't ever appear on the iPhone/iPad simply because Apple don't want you seeing the holes in their coverage (and can control which apps are approved for use on their devices), they have even hidden signal strength information behind an engineers code (as I mentioned previously)...bit silly...

Anyway, I've been running it for three days now, my preliminary results are as follows - 80.2% of the time I have 3G coverage, 16.8% of the time I only have access to 2G and 3% of the time I have no network coverage at all...so actually not *all* that bad (considering the amount I travel around the place), but that does equal 12 of the 72 hours I have been using the app where (had I needed to) I wouldn't have been able to use the Internet on my telephone...hrm... :S

Anyway, I'll keep you posted with results (if they change dramatically) and let you know when the map is up and running (it's supposed to be ready sometime late July, early August)...read more about it over here (if you are interested in this sort of thing)...